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The Association of Nigeria Licensed
Customs Agents (ANLCA) has presented a draft bill for indigenisation of the
customs brokerage in the country to the National Assembly.

National
Publicity Secretary of the association, Dr Kayode Farinto disclosed this
recently at a maritime roundtable organised by Maritime Reporters
Association of Nigeria (MARAN) in Lagos.

He said when
the bill was finally passed, it will be an offence for a foreigner to practise
customs brokerage in Nigeria.

According
to him, "it is not possible for a Nigerian customs broker to go to Ghana
or United States of America to practise, but in Nigeria, Lebanese and other
foreign nationals are seen clearing goods at our ports."

Farinto urged
the National Assembly to rise up to the occasion and pass laws that would
protect interest of Nigerians and provide jobs for the nation’s teeming
unemployed youths.

He
said that the proposed bill would not in any way jeopardise interest of the Act
establishing the Council for Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria
(CRFFN).

Though
he said the CRFFN Act needs to be reviewed as there was lacuna in the Act.

On the
operational challenges facing customs brokers, Farinto said that restriction of
foreign exchange affected imports as many customs brokers could not open form
'M', adding that the government recently barred importers from sourcing money
from bureau de change.

Farinto said
that such policies were counterproductive because "if you go to the banks
to source foreign exchange you may either not be able to source or there would
be a limit to the amount you can source.

Farinto said
that the 1 trillion Naira target set by the Comptroller General of Customs, Col
Ahmed Ali (rtd) cannot be achieved in the face of the aforementioned policies
and the dwindling value of the Naira.

He noted
that the multiplicity of taxes on imports had also affected clearance of goods at
the ports.

He frowned
against the demurrage that customs brokers were charged on public holidays and
Sundays, adding that with other charges added the customs brokers found it
difficult to clear their consignments thereby leading to the accrual of
demurrage over a period of time.

The
ANLCA spokesperson therefore called on government to streamline port charges
and restrict terminal operators from charging demurrage on public holidays and
Sundays.